Just a Doll
by TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas
Summary: Collab with DanaCardinal. My day was going pretty normally right up until I came home and found my Maximoff bobble head toys had been replaced with the real deal. And then my best friend started hanging out with the God of Mischief. I kept wishing for a more interesting life - well, I gotta say, you should be careful what you wish for. T for swearing and some violence. ON HOLD
1. Chapter 1

**Just a Doll**

 **Wanda: I regret nothing. This story is a collab with Dana and each chapter is basically our perspective of the same events. Again, I regret nothing, flames will be used to make marshmellows. I do not own The Avengers.**

 **Chapter 1: (Faints)**

"'The last day of attendance is on Monday! You don't have to show up, unless you're in a class with Lee otherwise he's going to call your parents and harass you about it like this is f**king second grade!" I grumbled, kicking snow aside as I made my way out of my school and onto the street.

It was a beautiful but frigid day; the sky was clear and the sun was shining but there was a pretty nasty wind chill. I had to button up my coat all the way to the neck, even though doing so made me pretty uncomfortable. My backpack held my computer in it, which made it pretty heavy. The wind was blowing in my face, which even my hood couldn't protect me from.

So all in all, I was in a pretty bad mood.

"Never mind that I'm one of three people who actually _shows up_ regularly, that's just not enough. Some people! Thank _god_ the term is finally over and I can rest my brain."

I turned up my phone volume, causing Disturbed to blast through my ears. Whenever I wanted to channel my emotions into something, I would listen to that band – they had the most pulse-pounding tracks I had ever heard.

" _I'm the hand of god! I'm the Dark Messiah! I'm the Vengeful One!"_ David Dramian's voice wailed, ringing through my brain as I made my way down the street towards the subway station.

"In the darkest moments, in a dying world, what have you become?" I sang along, pausing at the corner as the light turned red. A multitude of cars flooded the street, causing me to sigh. Where were all these people going? Don't they have homes to go to? Aren't they tired of moving around?

Don't get me wrong – I had lived in the big city for most of my life. This kind of atmosphere was something I was pretty used to. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't get tired of it from time to time. It was just so cluttered, so soul crushing. It was like being a single cog in a gigantic machine, spinning on until it wore out.

Dad, mom and my doctor all say I shouldn't use such exaggerated phrases when describing how I feel. But I honestly don't know how else to frame it.

I shoved my hands into my pockets; the cold always sank into my legs first, leaving me numb and quick to tire out. I liked snow – I really did – but I really wish I had some lined pants. I should probably go shopping sometime this week. If I even had enough money to buy anything worth mentioning.

I mean goddamn it, even a pair of shoes these days cost a hundred dollars! Why is everything so goddamn expensive now?

Somebody shoulder rammed me. I yelped and stumbled a bit; apparently the light had changed while I was lost in thought. Annoyed again, I crossed the street, my eyes on the train station.

 _Should have gotten the driver's test, but nooooo, I just_ had _to keep putting it off. Then I could be_ driving _home on my own power and have less of a headache to deal with._

All I wanted to do was get home, but once I got to the station I'd likely be standing there for thirty minutes before a bus showed up. By then, a lot of other people would be waiting too so I could stew in my claustrophobia for forty minutes until I got to my dad's house.

The bus ride was more rickety then normal – somebody dropped a bottle of alcohol on the floor, leaving a horrible stink behind for nearly half the ride. And there was a couple making out at the back. I felt like it was never going to freakin end.

Finally, I hit my stop and got off. The cold wind hit me in the face like a pillow with nails in it.

 _Well, this is a great start, isn't it?_ I thought morosely.

I was being tested a bit. My dad was a musician, so he was often out of the country on tour with the orchestra. My mom was at home, but she was allergic to cats – and one of the only good things that came out of their divorce was the fact that dad wasn't, so I could have one at his house. And I couldn't leave my poor little Ashley all alone, could I?

Before dad had either taken our pet to the vet (our first pair had passed on) or hired someone to take care of them. But since I had turned 18 six months ago, and I had just gotten off school, dad figured there was no better way to test my newfound maturity then to have me look after the house and the cat while he was away. For two weeks!

Of course, he then went on to rant about how I could call my brother (second year university) or my mother if there was trouble, and the family we knew who usually took care of such stuff, almost like he figured I would break down at the midway point out of sheer stress. Of course, that just gave me even more incentive to ride this out all the way.

I unlocked the door with the key (I never forgot them since I started wearing them on a necklace) and stepped inside.

Immediately I was charged by my kitten, my cute little black tuxedo bundle of joy, demanding to be fed and petted and showered with affection. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what she wanted – Ashley only really meowed when she wanted food or if she didn't like being picked up. She was a pretty quiet cat.

"Hey there darling. You want some food?" I cooed, sliding my bag off my shoulder and stuffing my coat into the closet. Wincing, I pried my ancient boots off my feet – they were far past their prime and were starting to give me blisters on the black of my heels. I kept forgetting to ask if I could get new ones...

Ashley meowed insistently. I smiled and petted her on the head before walking into the kitchen. I grabbed the canned cat food – she had turned her nose up at dry food quite pointedly – and gave her half a cup full. I didn't want her getting overweight, like Sammy...

Determined not to think about that, I pulled my computer out of my bag, along with the cable and the mouse, and set up at the table. It was going to be a little lonely, this week. Sometimes I was afraid that once I had to leave the nest (so to speak) I would end up by myself.

I'd never been on a date before because I had never met a boy who wasn't immensely immature or someone I felt like I could hang out with. Autism made normal friendships ever so slightly more difficult, and pretty much killed my ability to date anyone in either of my 'normal' high schools.

I sighed as my computer started booting up. I often felt like I was missing out on a lot of life experiences with how weird I was. And I'm not just referring to being a tomboy who still likes some girly things or stuff like that – I just felt like I couldn't relate to other kids my age.

My phone buzzed. I glanced down at it and smiled. Well, most people at least.

Alexis was my best friend, and the only person who ever contacted me on the phone aside from my parents. We'd met at a social skills group and clicked almost immediately, and we've stayed that way for a while now. I had spent New Years at her house for two years in a row now.

She'd gotten me a present for it – a bobble head of my favourite female superhero, Wanda Maximoff. I had finally found her twin a few days ago in a mall. Since I was just as obsessed with those movies as she was, I liked them a lot. Almost as much as my Espeon and Vaporeon plushies!

 _Hey._

 _Hi. How's life?_

 _Life's fine. Currently trying to not let English exam eat my brain._

 _I know. :( So freakin glad that's over. That music video took far more energy then it was worth. I better be getting a good grade for that._

 _How's Ashley?_

 _Hungry, it seems. She eats like a lady, though – prim and polite._

 _Aww :)_

 _How're your stories coming along?_

 _Just fine. Yours?_

 _Got writer's block. Maybe watching a movie will break it up._

 _That sucks. I hope it helps._

I smiled slightly, rubbing my fingers against my forehead. _I should probably take some aspirin._ I was a bit leery about that stuff – half the time, it was like it didn't work at all.

When I downed the pills with water, Ashley started meowing again. I frowned, walking over to her. She was staring down the hallway to the stairwell, her whole body unusually tense.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. Of course, she couldn't answer – but a second later she bolted into my brother's room and disappeared under his bed.

I stared at the hall, slowly approaching it.

There was a light on.

What? I could have sworn I turned my light off before I left for school this morning. Did I forget? My stomach tightened. Or...or was someone in my room?

Part of me wanted to go for my phone – but I didn't want to call the police and then end up looking like an idiot when it turned out I had just forgotten to flip the switch on my way to breakfast.

Instead, I grabbed the broom off the wall (shut up – it was the closest potential bludgeoning object to me) and cautiously made my way down the stairs.

There wasn't a whole lot in the house worth stealing (though not in my opinion – I'm still pissed at the guy who kicked my mom's door down and stole all my DS games, forcing me to buy them again. Seriously, fuck whoever that was!) so perhaps someone had broken in and then left. But I had to check.

Perhaps it was just someone who was cold and hungry, not dangerous but desperate. Maybe...

My hands tightening on the broom stick, I walked across the floor to my room. The door was mostly closed.

Admittedly, I kind of froze up at this point. What was I thinking, that I was some sort of freakin action hero? That I would beat a robber into submission and then casually call the cops, like Sherlock Holmes? This was nuts. I should be running and hiding – probably taking Ashley with me.

But part of me got mad – this was _my room,_ damn it! It belonged to me and no one else! I wasn't going to let any random asshole just traipse right through it.

So I shoved the door open and stared inside.

And stared. I felt my mouth dropping open.

There were two people standing in my room – a pair of young adult twins. One was a girl with beautiful long black hair. She was wearing a crimson red overcoat and black jeans, along with bracelets on her wrists and a pendant necklace. She was fair skinned and taller then me, though not by much. The other person was a boy. He had messy silver hair and the same dark eyes as the girl. He was wearing track pants and a blue shirt, with a white coat over that. He was tall and slender.

They both looked familiar. Very, very familiar.

My eyes drifted over to my table. My two bobbleheads of the Maximoff twins were gone.

I looked back at them. I felt the broom slip out of my hands.

The girl spoke first. She looked a mix between worried and embarrassed. "I'm so sorry," She said. Her voice had an eastern accent. I had heard it recently. _Very recently_.

As in, the last time I popped 'Avengers: Age of Ultron.' into my mom's DVD player.

"We were caught up in this strange flash of light, and then we found ourselves here. We didn't mean to intrude...miss? Are you okay?"

The world suddenly looked funny to me – like everything was very far away.

"You're...but you're...but...but..."

It was like every single gear in my brain had jammed simultaneously. It was like my computer screen had gone blue, before the little pop up asking you to restart appears. Right before it crashes.

Then everything went black for a little.

 **End Chapter**

 **Don't forget to check out Dana's Chapter 1 on the way out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a Doll**

 _ **Me: I still regret nothing.**_

 _ **Tyene: Right. I'll get Ashley off the table while you're glued to your computer screen.**_

 _ **Me: I do not own the Marvel Cinematic Universe.**_

 **Chapter 2: Level Head? What's That?**

Erf. Ow, my head.

"...Hey! Are you okay?" Someone's shaking me. The voice sounds concerned. It's a girl.

"Ow! Take it easy, furball! I'm trying to help!" Another voice. A boy.

My eyes fluttered open. Wanda Maximoff – _fucking Wanda Maximoff holy mother of hell –_ was leaning over me. She was gently shaking my shoulders. Had I passed out? That had happened once before; it was so freaky how one minute you were standing, then you found yourself on the floor with a black hole in your memory.

"Guh..."

Wanda relaxed slightly. "Oh thank lord. You scared us."

Ashley hurtled up to me, nuzzling my hand. I scratched her behind the ears, still dazed, as I looked up. Pietro was standing a few feet away, shaking his hand and cursing. It looked like he was bleeding slightly. He glanced over at me, and my heart jumped a couple times.

"Your cat's mad at me." He said dryly, brandishing his slightly bloody wrist.

Ashley licked my hand.

"I-I'm fine...just...surprised." I gasped out, before resisting the urge to face palm. Surprised, surprised! Behold, my amazing vocabulary!

Wanda helped me stand up, and have I mentioned she's _seriously_ pretty? She smiled a bit and said, "I'm glad. What's your name?"

"Eileen." I stammered.

"I'm Wanda. The boy who harassed your cat is my brother Pietro." Pietro gave his sister a irritated/betrayed look while I blushed slightly. Ever since I'd seen the movie, I'd found the silver speedster kind of attractive; all I could do was pray that he wouldn't notice.

"I know who you two are." I said, before cursing. I probably shouldn't say that. The twins looked oddly at me, so I quickly said, "But what the heck are you doing in my bedroom?"

Pietro sighed and explained, "Our boss Strucker has been experimenting with a strange stone for a while now. He thought he had made a breakthrough and brought the rest of the Interns down to observe it. Suddenly there was a huge flash of light, and we were here."

Strucker? My brain whirred furiously. The HYDRA goon? Oh god, please don't let _him_ show up in my house too! I don't think I could handle that!

I glanced over my shoulder and let out a tiny sigh of relief. Nope, as far as I could tell I wasn't playing hostess to a bunch of Neo Nazis. "This is so weird." I muttered.

"I'm sorry about this," Wanda said again, "But could you tell us where we are?"

"You're in Toronto, Canada." I responded. Pietro said something I didn't understand, but I had a feeling it wasn't very polite. "I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgeable about super powered stones, but I do have some bagels...I mean, if you're hungry..."

I said that before I could really think, but the relieved look the twins gave me made me glad that I had. "That would be lovely, thank you." Wanda said in relief.

Nodding weakly – the shock was still fading away – I picked Ashley up in my arms and lead them both upstairs. My brain was whirling. The fucking _Maximoff Twins_ were in my house. My brain lit up with all sorts of crazy thoughts, about magic and speed and all kinds of things I could ask them.

Like how the bloody hell this was even _possible!_

Characters didn't just appear in real life! That was insane! It broke all the laws of casualty! It was just a dream, a flight of fancy for fangirls...right!?

 _Oh, but what about the Infinity Stones?_ A voice in the back of my head asked. _Can't they control all of reality? You know Strucker had the Mind Stone. Wasn't there a fan theory that the Stone was sentient?_

But science says-

 _Scientists believe they know everything because of rocks – and not even_ interesting _rocks. They all sorely lack imagination. What if there_ is _more that's out there?_

 _Wouldn't you like to experience it for yourself?_

"Is this your computer?"

I yelped and spun around. Wanda was gesturing to my laptop, which was currently on and was displaying... _something_ I had been looking at during lunch time. And I use the term 'looking at' loosely – it was more like bile fascination. Specifically, some fanfiction and a certain decision made by the writers of the Ultimate Comic regarding her and her brother.

Frantic to preserve my guest's sanity, I darted over and slammed it shut. I heard a slight _crick_ , which normally would have sent me into a flood of cursing, but I had other problems. "Oh yeah! I-I like to write stuff, so I've been trying to write a book. You know! For young adults! I – I just don't wanna ruin any of the surprises." I said, smiling a bit too widely to be credible.

To my relief, Wanda just looked curious. "Oh. What kind?"

"O-oh, anything really. I mean, my favourite genre is fantasy, but I like Sci Fi too...I mean, the first two movie trilogies I watched were Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings." I said, bringing the plates and sandwiches over.

"That sounds nice," Pietro remarked. I noticed that his hand was still bleeding. Yeesh, Ashley might still be a one year old kitten but she had some nasty claws.

"A-About that...sorry, Ashley's a bit skittish. Here, let's get that cleaned up..." I gestured awkwardly towards the upstairs bathroom. It mainly differed from mine in that it had a shower instead of a bath; dad and and my brother preferred it.

"What, this?" Pietro raised the affected hand. "I've gotten worse paper cuts."

"B-but, we should take care of it anyway...infection would be bad..." Picture of cheeriness and confidence, right here folks.

Wanda raised an eyebrow at her older brother. Pietro shrugged and let me lead him over to the sink. Nervously I pulled the bandages down and started cleaning, like mom had shown me.

Touching him sent electric chills up my spine. It didn't take long, but it felt like an eternity to me. I swear he was just watching me the whole time. Or was that in my head!?

"Thank you." Pietro said simply before returning to the table in the time it took me to half blink.

That...that must be his super speed. It's official. I have the fucking Maximoff twins in my goddamned kitchen.

I need to text Alexis.

I grabbed my phone off the table and took a quick picture of the two – just in case I needed to convince my best friend I wasn't insane.

To my surprise, there's already a text waiting for me. _"You won't believe who was sitting on my bed_." That was a strange thing to say...unless...unless...My heart skipped and I texted back-

" _Who_?"

" _Loki_." There's a short pause, like she knows I'm not quite getting it, before another text repeats, " _My Loki bobble head became Loki. A living, breathing version of him._ "

At literally any other time, I would have assumed this was some sort of strange joke. But the timing was too perfect.

" _You too?"_

Another short pause. _"What do you mean you too?"_

Quickly I send her the photo and tag it with, " _My Wanda and Pietro bobble heads just became the real things too._ "

" _Really!?"_

" _Yup. I passed out when I saw them and everything. In fact, I just saw Pietro use his super speed, so I know I'm not being duped. Oh, and they nearly saw my FF net account, but I slammed my computer shut at the last second."_

I paused, glanced ruefully at my faithful piece of machinery, before noting, _"I probably need a new laptop._ "

" _Oh dear. Fortunately, Loki didn't get the chance to look at mine."_

I let out a small sigh of relief. There was an unnervingly sized continent of fans who practised incestuous shipping, and I don't think anything else could do quite the same kind of damage to the poor guy's sanity at this point then that.

" _That's good_."

Clearly Alexis thought the same thing, because she said next, " _I'm hiding both The Avengers and the two Thor movies. I'd hate it if he found them, if he came back."_

Immediately I tried to remember where my MCU DVDs were. Most of them were at my mom's house, but where was Age of Ultron? I could only imagine the twin's reactions to seeing that...

" _Good idea. I should find my Age of Ultron copy and bury it somewhere...maybe in my sock drawer."_

Alexis then asked a pretty pertinent question. " _What are you going to do with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff in your house?_ "

What to do indeed?

I couldn't just kick them out. They had nowhere to go, and if they got picked up by the military...my mind flashed through a dozen disaster scenarios that all ended in vivisection. It was too horrible to consider.

" _I don't know. But for now I'll let them stay at my house; I don't want them to go back to Strucker."_

I didn't see much of Strucker in the movie, but I knew from both the comics and Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes that he was very, very far from a nice person. I wouldn't trust a Neo Nazi to treat anyone with kindness and decency, much less someone with powers. I didn't doubt that Strucker just saw the twins as a means to an end – as weapons.

And that was just disgusting.

" _I don't blame you_." Alexis agreed.

" _What about Loki?"_ Was he still there?

" _He left. He said he could sense Mr Child Abuser Odin approaching his cell."_

I couldn't help the low growl that escaped my throat.

I hated Odin! I hated him, that smug, self righteous hypocrite! Talk about a guy who's life motto was 'do as I say, not as I do!' He encompassed everything I hated about powerful people who thought their titles meant they could do whatever they bloody wanted and then just pass it off as "doing what they had to" or just excusing it given their status. That shite could have been honest with Loki from the start and helped him feel wanted, but no, that would have been too easy, huh?

" _Wonderful."_ It's a pity data can't pick up the sheer scathing sarcasm I put into that word. _"Do you think he'll come back?_ "

" _He said, 'perhaps I'll see you again Alexis', so I think so. Oh shoot! He still has my dad's sweater. Well, maybe this guarantees he'll be back."_

"Who are you talking to?" Pietro asked.

I jumped; for a second I had nearly forgotten about them – ironically enough. "Oh. A friend of mine, Alexis. She lives across town. We chat often."

Quickly, I finished, " _Text me if he does come back, okay? I'll keep you posted on this too."_

" _Will do_."

I clicked my phone off and sat down at the table with a glass of water. Wanda and Pietro had both eaten their food completely already...had that asshole not been feeding them!?

A wave of anger washed over me. I should have expected human decency to be too much trouble for someone like him, but that didn't mean it wouldn't make me angry.

"So..." Trawl for topic. Getting nervous again. "What do you guys do for fun?"

Wanda blinked and looked at me funny, like I had just used a foreign word. "Fun?"

"You know...like going to the movies, bookstores, mini golfing...okay maybe not that last one, but you know! Just enjoying yourselves."

The two exchanged a look before they both shrugged uneasily. "Nothing specific. Except outrunning racecars." Pietro said. Wanda rolled her eyes at that.

My lips parted slightly. An understanding crashed over me as I looked between them.

Their backstory involved a Civil War. Most people in the West didn't have to think about stuff like that, but reading history books gave me a decent idea of how terrifying and scarring those events were. And after that, they went into the custody of a new nazi cult.

It was all great for drama, of course. But when you think about _living_ through that?

 _I_ could barely comprehend that. No wonder they were looking at me funny.

They had _never_ really had a chance to just relax, to have fun, to goof off without a care in the world. Not when you always had to be on your guard, scanning the sky for bombers, or god knew what else...

That was so sad...

That's when I got an idea.

"Hey. I haven't been to Canada's Wonderland in a while! Let's go there for a day." I smiled at them. "It'll be awesome. Trust me!"

 **End Chapter**

 **I wondered about how much the poor twins ever got to enjoy themselves in the past. obviously trauma brings about great drama, but you don't see the less exciting (but still horrible) side effects of it.**

 **Read and Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a Doll**

 **Announcer: And the Block is down! Will it stay down?!**

 **Wanda Greenleaf: Don't tease me. I do not own The Avengers.**

 **Chapter 3: Roller Coaster**

I winced a bit when I saw the price for three young adults to enter the theme park for a day, but I had been given a whole bunch of money by my parents for the two weeks I'd be spending alone.

Pietro looked rather wrong-footed, completely surrounded by the crowds as we were. Wanda was holding his hands, glancing all around somewhat nervously. I acted confident for them, standing in the lines and leading them through the front gate.

I could already tell that Pietro hated waiting – he would start tapping his foot against the ground if we stood in one place for too long. I hope waiting for the individual rides wouldn't annoy him too much. But when you can move as fast as that, I suppose everything else seems twice as slow as a normal person perceives it.

That must get annoying sometimes.

"First ride I tried last time was the Vortex!" I said after we got through the gate _technically the last thing I tried here was Bumper Cars, but that's a bit too safe for these two._ "Let's try that out first."

Normally I was a bit jittery around rides – I had been a lot braver when I was in the single digits, I'm not gonna lie.

 **% &%&%&%&%&%&**

"Oh, c'mon Wanda. I've carried you while moving faster!"

A mildly hysterical Wanda's response to that was to psychically pick up an abandoned water bottle and dump the contents on her brother's head. I slapped my hands over my mouth to strangle my snickers as Pietro sputtered and yelled at her in German.

It was really cute.

"So I guess that puts the Leviathan or the Bahamut out of the question," I guessed.

Wanda glanced at me, and I pointed to the enormous blue railed ride that had given me chills the first time I looked at it. I had never tried either, and frankly I didn't plan to.

"Absolutely not." Wanda agreed flatly, straightening up.

"Oh, come on you two. It's perfectly safe." Pietro said. Wanda just glared at him in response.

"Sorry, not all of us have nerves of steel," I said, and I meant that as a compliment as it was something I myself didn't have a lot of. Of course I never really had the need for it given my nice, safe life, but I often wished I could be a bit braver in the face of the world. "But we can always try Wild Beast. That one doesn't go upside down, at least."

Wild Beast was a ride I had to be cajoled into taking the first time – mainly, my grade school friends had run on ahead of me and assured me it wouldn't do loops, so I figured that meant it was fine. Of course, it started with one of those slow ascent, quick drops that always made my stomach churn. So I had the good sense to warn Wanda about that before we got on.

A couple other rides also made the cut – the sky high swing set, the great drop (easily my least favourite) and the Vortex again – before games and food became our primary interest.

Wanda hated the ring tossing game. After a while, I saw a blast of red light as she influenced the large, clumsy ring to land on the middle bottle. _Just like everyone who ever played this wished they could do_. This game had eaten a lot of tickets when I first tried to play it.

Wanda shot a slightly smug grin at the flabbergasted game master before pulling down the giant Zorua doll I'd been eyeing and handing it to me with a warm smile.

I felt my cheeks go red and stuttered my thanks. _She didn't have to do that..._

We wandered through the plaza for hours, trying different games. The twins quickly got into a game of trying to outdo each other, which was hilarious to watch and also kind of heartwarming. They both seemed so happy and relaxed.

 ****~Later, at Dinner~****

Pietro piled his plate with brownies and cookies – moreso than anything healthy – and whisked back to join us. It was really funny to see normal people try to make sense out of his super speed; originally I'd been afraid he'd get caught, but my Earth was so set in its belief of nothing spectacular existing that everyone just refused to believe what they were seeing.

Watching people spin in circles, trying to figure out who had been right behind them, got a giggle out of me every time.

"I haven't had that kind of fun in a long time," Wanda admitted as we ate. "Not since we were kids."

"That was kinda the point." I said, taking a huge gulp of milk. "I'm glad it worked out. Too bad we can't hang out longer."

Ashley was very specific about when she wanted to be fed.

"No, it's fine. I'm glad you took us out here, and I know it cost a lot." Wanda said seriously, before kicking Pietro under the table.

"It was very thoughtful of you," Pietro added, before cursing under his breath and sending his sister a wounded puppy look. I pulled my eyes away from him and looked at the various Pokemon plushies we had won in the games so he wouldn't see the redness in my cheeks – or catch me staring.

I couldn't help it, but I could acknowledge that Pietro was so far out of my league it was pitiful.

My phone buzzed. It was Alexis. While the twins were eating, I started texting again.

" _Hey."_

" _How's life with the Maximoff Twins_?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. Once I'd gotten over my shock, I felt like I was in a dream. One of the best dreams I could imagine, except maybe if I had met the Skywalkers or the Maverick Hunters. _"It's freakin amazing. I realized that they never had the chance to be normal teenagers, so I took them to Canada's Wonderland._ "

My wallet was still smarting ever so slightly, but it was worth it.

" _Really? How'd it go?"_

" _Pietro loves the Rollar Coasters. Wanda...not so much. Dunked him in water for teasing her about it, too._ "

" _and you?"_

I bobbled my head a bit before writing, " _Had to steel my nerves a bit and act like I was less scared then I was. It was easier after the Vortex."_

There was a pause, then I got a picture. Loki and Alexis were in a park, chatting. " _He came back,"_ She wrote, somewhat unnecessarily. _Lucky!_

" _Wow. Did he say why?"_

" _To return the sweater...and he said he was lonely."_

My heart ached. I'd felt desperately sorry for Loki since the first time I watched his movie; I knew what it was like to be different and to have everyone look at you like you're something weird. No matter what you did to fit in, there was something about you just different enough that you couldn't enjoy things the same way most people did – and everyone knew it.

It was so frustrating.

" _Aww._ " I wrote sympathetically. I was glad Alexis was there to distract him from how awful his life currently was.

I also believed Loki could very well be innocent of the attack on Earth. After all, he'd been in the hands of the Chitauri for over a year before the attack, and the stone in the staff he was given was the bloody _Mind Stone_. The stone only needed physical contact to brainwash someone, and his eyes had a similar look to everyone who got taken over...

" _He said he doesn't get many visitors. One of the few people who visit him are his mother and the guards. Frigga's nice, obviously, but the guards just shout abuse; them and the "Warrior's Three." Thor and the King of Child Abuse don't show up at all."_

I made a noise similar to Ashley when she didn't want to get picked up. Those vicious, savage, barbaric, backwards-! No wonder they thought showing emotion is weakness – they were all violent sociopaths! With superpowers!

Alexis agreed on this front, it was obvious because despite the monotone of the text, the next words were in all caps.

" _WONDERFUL, right?"_

" _I know. Fucking Wonderful."_ I added sarcastically. Noticing my pasta was getting cool, I pocketed my phone and dug in.

"Do you not have school tomorrow?" Wanda asked curiously; I'd told her I was in grade 12.

"Thankfully, no. I have a week and a half for Term break." I explained. "My dad's out on tour and my brother's in residence at University, so I've got the house to myself. My parents split when I was young," I added by way of explanation.

"Oh." Pietro blinked, and his face softened sympathetically. He was remembering his own parents, who were very loving, but died during the civil war. "I'm sorry to hear that."

I felt my cheeks getting warm all over again. A list actress, I was not. "It's hardly your fault...but thank you."

 ****~Later that Evening~****

We took the bus home; the sun had already set by the time we stepped inside. Ashley had warmed up to my two guests pretty quickly, and now she was rubbing against Wanda's leg asking the girl to play with her. I dropped off my newly acquired plushies downstairs; now I was getting quite the collection.

"My dad's room is in the back," I said, walking to the end of the hall and pulling the bed down from the wall. "The other room's my brothers. You can sleep in either of them, I know they wouldn't mind. There's a shower here and a bath downstairs, so that's there if you have a preference..."

Wanda smiled at me. "Thank you, Eileen. You didn't have to do any of this."

"Of course I did," I protested. "It's the right thing to do."

That wouldn't have been high on HYDRA's list of priorities, but what did they know about anything?

Pietro put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump and stare at him. He looked at me for a second before saying, "We'll pay you back for this, somehow. I promise." He smiled a bit. "Good night, Eileen."

"G...Good night." I echoed faintly, as the silver haired boy disappeared into the shower. Faintly touching my shoulder with my finger, I hurried downstairs, my heart hammering in my ribs.

If this is insanity after all, it's such a sweet and gentle kind.

 **End Chapter**

 **So, how long will this peace last? When will HYDRA or Asgard show up to ruin our collective relaxation?**

 **Read and Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Just a Doll**

 **I know it took a while, I'm sorry, but here it is. I do not own the Avengers.**

 **Chapter 4: Movie Night**

"...I have in fact been eating things other than pasta and kraft dinner. I know, shocking, the world's coming to an end, but that's the truth." I put my phone on speaker so I could talk to my dad while managing dinner. "Everything's going just fine, dad. Stop worrying."

I rolled my eyes and hit the off button. "He worries too much."

"Does he? You are hosting a pair of strangers in your house, one of whom is a young man he's never met before," Pietro remarked slyly as I brought the chicken onto the table.

"He doesn't need to know that yet." I muttered as I sat down and started to serve myself.

"Do you have a plan if he _does_ find out? We still have no lead on whatever brought us here in the first place." Wanda asked.

"I haven't thought that far ahead, to be honest." I admitted, looking down at my plate. "I don't exactly know what to look for."

"Neither do we," Pietro admitted. "It was unexpected."

"Besides, the tour is still going on for another week. Hopefully we'll have some answers before then." Especially if Loki knew what was going on. I was beginning to wonder if I should text Alexis and ask if we could meet soon.

The three of us ate dinner and dealt with the dishes. I tapped my finger on my arm before I got an idea. "Hey! How about we watch some movies? I've got a bunch of Disney and Pixar stuff here!"

"Aren't those for kids?" Pietro asked skeptically.

"They're _family_ flicks." I responded, huffing slightly at the description. Animation was _not_ just a medium for little kids. Whoever insisted on that hadn't seen Grave of the Fireflies. "Now, where's the Princess and the Frog? I like that one..."

I dug through the stacks of movies on the floor while Wanda volunteered to make some popcorn. I finally found it buried under _Frozen_ , _Serenity_ and _Mad Max: Fury Road_ , pulled it out along with _Monster's Inc.,_ and booted up the TV.

As usual, it was a struggle to get my dad's TV to turn on, and I almost forgot that I had to switch it back from the setting that allowed me to use the Wii. Then I pulled the extra mattress out, dumped it on the floor and sat down, adjusting the volume on one remote and skipping the commercials with the other – there weren't any interesting ones on this DVD.

Pietro sat on my right, Wanda on my left. She offered me some popcorn, which I took as the movie started playing.

 _ ****~Line Break~****_

"Distant trials and tribulations...you know I've had my share," I sang along with Tiana as she drew her image song closer to the end. "But I've climbed the mountain, I've crossed the river and I'm almost there. I'm almost there! I'm alll~most~there!"

"You have a good singing voice." Pietro remarked, which made me blush furiously.

"My mum sung in a choir back in the day, so I guess I picked up a few things." I said shyly.

"Do you plan to do that?" Wanda asked curiously.

"W-Well what I really want to do is write books, but...I dunno, maybe. I mean, I love music a lot, and I've been in a classical music orchestra for a couple years running when I was at my first high school." I admitted, twisting my hair between my fingers.

When the real estate agents blew off Tiana, Wanda was pissed.

"Why you lying little conmen!" She seethed. "She bought that from you! You can't just take the money and then leave her with nothing!"

"Take it easy, Wanda." Pietro cautioned, noticing her hands were flickering with magic. Wanda snorted and kept glaring at the screen.

"I don't like them either." I muttered. "The Shadow Man's more sympathetic than them."

We kept watching after I hit play again.

Pietro was snickering the whole way through the initial chase after Tiana got turned into a frog, saying something about 'fairy tale rules written by a lawyer.' Wanda seemed to like the music, which was funny because I've heard many people bitch about how Randy Newman was a generic songwriter and whatnot. Her favourite (and mine) was "Friends on the Other Side".

Ray the firefly was my least favourite character in the movie, so it was funny when Pietro told him to shut up after a minute of screen time. So we heckled him together (except when he was talking about Evangaline. That was kinda sweet) which was fun.

"Do you suppose Mama Odie talks in riddles just to annoy people?" Pietro wondered in the middle of "Dig a Little Deeper."

"I think it's because if she just told them outright, they wouldn't get it." I guessed. "Or they wouldn't believe her. They have to figure it out themselves to get a personal epiphany."

"Still, would it kill her to be a little more helpful? Or at least more straight forward?"

"It would make for a shorter movie," I joked. Pietro threw me a slightly annoyed but amused look.

The movie kept going along, until we reached the third act.

"And there's the obligatory third act misunderstanding." Wanda grumbled when Tiana saw the fake Naveen standing on the parade float, offering to marry Charlotte. "Doesn't she remember that, if she's still a frog, so is he?"

"Uh...love does strange things to your head?" Pietro offered.

I flinched when The Shadow Man was dragged off into the Voodoo hell. That part always creeped me out big time; if I had seen that as I little kid I probably would have pulled a Lion King and refused to watch it again.

"Are you alright?" Wanda asked.

"Gives me the creeps," I admitted with a blush.

After we finished the Princess and the Frog, we started on other movies. We went through Monsters Inc, laughed through the Emperor's New Groove, and were halfway through Inside Out when collectively, we started falling asleep.

I found myself resting my head against Pietro's chest, feeling too tired and happy to question how we ended up leaning against each other. Only the buzzing of my phone kept me up after him; it was Alexis.

The text was a little old...but hold the phone. At first, half asleep as I was, I only registered that it was strangely spelled wrong...before the message sank in.

 _He kissed her! Holy hell!_

My fingers slipping on the screen, I wrote back, " _WHAT?"_

" _Loki kissed me_." It must have been a while ago, because that was pretty matter of fact.

" _Seriously? What was it like?"_ If I had been less sleepy, I wouldn't have asked that.

Alexis's reaction was rather unlike her, so I was certain that, indeed, it had happened and she had fallen in love with her houseguest. " _Like I'd died and gone to heaven. His lips were so soft Eileen. And I kissed him back. My brain just shut off the moment he kissed me."_

I could feel Pietro breathing beneath my ear; ignorant of my mild hyporicsy considering how he made me feel I asked, _"What do you mean your brain shut off?_

" _Wasn't my earlier text an indicator? Normally I have a flip out about bad spelling but I ignored it. And then I agreed to watch Enchanted. ENCHANTED. Normally I dislike romantic movies like that. What is wrong with me?"_

It seemed pretty obvious to me, but I refrained from making remarks about 'head meeting wall'. " _Maybe you're in love_."

" _(snorts) If what I was singing in the shower wasn't a big enough hint I don't know what would be._ "

My stomach twitched the way it often did when I got wound up emotionally. Abruptly I remembered singing "Genie in a Bottle," "Lips of an Angel" and even that accused "Everytime we Touch" at random over the past three days since I took the twins to Canada's Wonderland. I was spending a lot of time with them, and sometimes I would think of Pietro...

Desperate to distract myself, I wrote, " _What do you mean?"_

" _I was singing every sentimental love song that came into my head. Love songs. And I never sing in the shower. You should have seen the looks my sister was giving me when I came out."_

" _Oh?"_

" _She was glaring at me like I'd stolen her stuffed polar bear."_ I stifled the urge to chuckle. _"I'm not a good singer but I'm not a terrible one. Anyway, how's life with Wanda and Pietro?"_

I found myself smiling fondly, in a way I rarely did unless at family gatherings. What the hell was wrong with me?

" _I'm enjoying it_." Understatement of the century. _"We watched a bunch of movies, like the Princess and the Frog. The Disney version."_ Yep, I'm starting to fall asleep. What other movie versions were there of that story?

Distantly Joy was ranting about 'tickle monsters' and 'having to wake Riley up'.

" _Really?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _Okay, I need to go. Mom says it's time for bed."_

" _All right, good idea. Night, Alexis."_

" _Night Eileen."_

I didn't even have the motor skills to move the phone away. My hand dropped to my side and I went right to sleep in the arms of the silver god known as Pietro Maximoff.

 _ ****~Later~****_

My phone buzzing frantically was what woke me. Dazed, shifting in Pietro's arms (when had his arm gotten around my waist?) I fumbled with my device, glancing at the time.

4:30?! Okay, this better be important...!

The caller ID registered next. It was Alexis.

"Murrph...Hello?"

"Eileen? It's Alexis." My friend's voice alarmed me. She sounded kind of scared.

"Alexis. Do you have any idea what time it is?" I asked, still half asleep.

"Yes I know," She was definitely scared about something, "what time it is but I don't have very long."

"Why? You're not making much sense – what's going on?"

"Odin's somehow found out about me. Let's just say he's out to get me! Thor has sicced the Avengers after me and Loki, so we're officially on the run. I need someplace I can lay low. Can we stay at your house?"

My mind jerked. Odin? The Avengers?! "Fucking hell!" I hissed, though not loudly enough to wake my companions. "Yes of course, you can come here."

"Thank you so much Eileen," Alexis's voice slackened with relief. "Can you meet us at the station?"

I glanced at the clock, trying to calculate the time they would need. We didn't exactly live close to each other. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay. You're a lifesaver you know that?"

I smiled a bit, though my stomach was a riot of butterflies and the severity of the situation hadn't quite sunk in yet. I knew I had to be there to help her. "Good to know. I'll met you there."

The call ended, and I glanced down at Pietro. Gently I freed myself from his arms and got up, looking for my shoes.

I should have expected something like this to come crashing in on us, even though I hoped it wouldn't come to something like this. I didn't doubt the twins would help us but I was worried about where this would lead. If we needed to run for it...I prepared a text for my brother to watch the house while I hung out with Eileen. He owed me a favour for lent money anyhow.

Things were about to get messy.

 **End Chapter**

 **Okay, so it's not HYDRA, but that might have been preferrable - if only because I wouldn't feel guilty for braining HYDRA agents with a frying pan a la Rapunzel.**

 **Read and Review please!**


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